Rios Stops the Reign, Enjoys Day in Sun as New No. 1

Marcelo Rios used his tennis racket like a magic wand, directing none other than Andre Agassi around the court at will Sunday.

And, for his final trick, Rios made Pete Sampras’ No. 1 ranking disappear.

If there was any remaining doubt Rios was going to defeat Agassi in the final of the Lipton Championships, it came in the seventh game of the second set. It wasn’t that Rios was winning points even after his racket strings broke, it was the way he won that seventh game on his serve.

Ahead, 40-15, Rios could have clobbered an easy volley to swagger away to a 5-2 lead. Instead he feathered a forehand volley over the net, almost insolently and left people wondering how ruthless the takeover was going to be.

Though Agassi averted humiliation, he could not escape the inevitable and Rios defeated him, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, which means the 22-year-old Chilean will become the new No. 1 when the ATP rankings are released today, terminating the 102-week reign of Sampras.

Rios celebrated by tossing his racket high into the stands, saluting the hundreds of Chilean fans when he hoisted the national flag in the air. All week, Key Biscayne had become Santiago North when Rios played, but more of his compatriots arrived Sunday and the match had an electric feeling, the festive mood of a Davis Cup or a World Cup soccer match.

“First of all, being the best player in the world for Chile is not normal,” Rios said. “We have never had a champion be No. 1 in the world in tennis. I don’t know if we have had it in other sports, but I don’t think so.

“I think everybody is going to take it really good. I feel proud, being Chilean, to be the only one to be No. 1 in the world.”

How long his legacy will last may be up to Sampras, actually. Sampras is scheduled to play in Hong Kong next week and will retake the top spot if he reaches the semifinals.

“It’s a great feeling to be No. 1 for the first time,” Agassi said. “He’s No. 1 right now. That’s the extent of it. How he does in the Grand Slams, how everybody does in the Grand Slams, are going to determine the end-of-the-year ranking.

“He’ll have to win a Slam this year to be No. 1 in the players’ eyes. To be No. 1 in his own eyes, he’ll have to win a Slam.”

Rios committed only two unforced errors in the second set, and overall, hit 48 winners to Agassi’s 25.

“One of my worst nightmares is to play well and lose handily,” said Agassi, who will move to No. 22 today. “There’s no question I can play better than this, which is helping me out here a little bit.”

The run of Rios started shortly after he picked up the telephone last November and called his former coach, Larry Stefanki. If anyone is the right guy for moody left-handers, it would be Stefanki, who once coached John McEnroe.

“You know, if he can last with this guy McEnroe,” Stefanki said of himself, laughing. “We’ve had our moments. Marcelo is very driven inside, very strong-willed. A lot of people don’t see it, but there’s a lot of layers. He doesn’t show it, but it burns inside.”

Sunday, the battle of wills never quite materialized. Agassi did not serve particularly well (winning only 39% of second-serve points) and admitted that Rios’ serve caught him by surprise.

“If he was a right-hander, he wouldn’t be close to the same player he is now,” Stefanki said.

Said Agassi: “You have to address him like a big player. I was going out there and playing him like he’s 5 foot 8. I thought I could back him into the paint.

“The bottom line is, he doesn’t play his size.”

Stefanki also talked about the maturation of Rios, who is practically the pioneer of men’s tennis in Chile.

“He’s been taken out of his comfort zone [in Chile] and dropped into the worldwide frenzy of tennis,” he said. “He’s just turned into a man. He’s more of an introvert. Not gregarious. He’s not going to go into the locker room like a Bill Clinton.”

Rios did manage to cause a few laughs when he was asked about the commercial possibilities of being No. 1.

“I don’t know. I just became No. 1 20 minutes ago,” he said.

If anything, Rios will serve as a foil to Sampras and Agassi in the sense of future rivalries. He also acts as a welcome break from the tedium of uncreative tennis, fueled by big serves.

“It’s nice,” Agassi said. “I never thought we’d see a player as good as Marcelo after [Michael] Chang. He brings another dimension to tennis.

“It forces you to think, forces you to move. I think it’s good for the game. Especially in America where people have for options for big-time sports. They don’t want to tune into tennis if they’re watching a big serve here, a big serve there.”

Stefanki remembered when he first spotted Rios years ago. He was playing a much taller opponent, of course. “I thought, ‘This kid is so small,’ ” Stefanki said. “It was always like Mutt and Jeff. But he’s never backed off.”

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A New Leader

Marcelo Rios replaces Pete Sampras atop the ATP men’s rankings. A look at the longest reigns as the No. 1 player in tennis:

MEN

* 1. Jimmy Connors, 160 weeks, starting July 29, 1974.

* 2. Ivan Lendl, 157 weeks, starting Sept. 9, 1985.

* 3. Pete Sampras, 102 weeks, starting April 15, 1996.

WOMEN

* 1. Steffi Graf, 186 weeks, starting Aug. 17, 1987.

* 2. Martina Navratilova, 156 weeks, starting June 9, 1982.

* 3. Chris Evert, 133 weeks, starting Nov. 1, 1975.